Independent Reading - This is 20% of your English grade. You will be given 45 minutes each week in class (Monday) to read and you will be expected to put in another 70 minutes of reading at home during each week. This year the books that will be accepted must be among those that have Accelerated Reader tests. You will earning points instead of pages this year too. Please refer to the Readers are Leaders sheet given to you the first week of school. It is also posted in the classroom.
Book Report Choices - You will be required to complete a book report once per quarter. There are options and expectations for C, B and A level work. Click here for a Fiction Log Worksheet or here for a Nonfiction Log Worksheet. Click here for an example of a B level book report. (An A Level example is coming soon.)
Word Snapshot -This assignment is a visual representation of you. Using words from your lists, webs and category helper, create a word picture that describes you. Click here for the Word Snapshot Expectation checklist.
Portfolio Cover and Spine - The Portfolio is a collection of your best work. Creating a cover and spine will allow for your personal creativity. Make a cover that respresents you.
Portfolio Introduction Pages - The pop-up page that you will create for your portfolio will be used to help us develop ideas for stories we will be writing this semester. You should use at least one of the pop-up techniques we learned in class. Click here to see the assignment sheet for the pop-up page. If you want to make more pages, they do not have to include the pop-up option. Click here to see some extra pages that I created.
Words to Own (Writer's Notebook) - In your Writer's Notebook you should have set aside the last 10 pages for your Words to Own. You should have received a yellow guide sheet as well as a yellow sticker to help you. Click here for more information about Words to Own. Click on the story titles here to see a list of the words assigned in class.[The Smallest Dragonboy] [Barrio Boy]
The Smallest Dragon Boy - We will be reading this excerpt from an Anne McCaffrey series called The White Dragon. We will be using this story to learn how to complete a Fiction Log. Students should have this assignment signed by a parents just as they would for a reading assignment. .
Words to Own Posters (Portfolio) - From your words to own in your writer's notebook you will be developing posters for your portfolio. Don't worry about this yet -- we will be getting to it in the middle of October.
Narrative (Autobiographical Incident Paper) - Students will be writing a story about an event that happened to them. This is a very important assignment this quarter. Students will be shown many examples and given an expectation checklist to work from. We will also be doing several 5 Minute Writings in class to help us establish some ideas.